A WEEK OF DUST

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 4 December 1940, Page 9

A WEEK OF DUST

STORM IN WESTERN DESERT EXPERIENCE FOR NEW ZEALANDERS (From the Official War Correspondent with the N.Z.E.F. in Egypt) EGYPT, 15th November. Twenty-four hours of dust storms so I heavy that men worked in the open i with their faces completely covered, ; and vehicular traffic moved as if in a blackout, were experienced recently by | the New Zealanders in the Western ! Desert. ' High winds spread a blanket of fine i dust over miles of desert, and the con- | ditions were the worst of their kind ever experienced by the New ZealanI de-rs. Dust entered the securest of tents and lay thickly on beds and equipment. Even in the middle of the day a deep gloom covered the countryside. “It was impossible to see almost anything further away than the end of your nose while the storm was at its height,” a North Auckland sergeant declared. “When we worked in the open we had to wear goggles continuously, ' and swathe our faces in cloth. Once we began to perspire we looked as if ! we had just come out of a mud bath.” i It was not unusual at the height of j the storm to see a truck moving slowly j through the murk with a soldier perched on the bonnet directing the driver | and keeping him to the road. A full week passed before the winds subsided. and clear, mild weather returned. To troops new to the country the week of dust would have been a severe test, but nine months in Egypt have inured our men to the whims of the desert. It would convince nobody to say they accepted the storm philosophically; dust that can be smelt and tasted, that blows unceasingly into one’s eyes [ and throat and ears, and leaves a film ! of dust at the bottom of one’s mug of i tea, is something to be roundly berated. » They did berate it —thoroughly and un- > printably—but they came through it l and forgot about it. t To-day there seems to be little about ; the desert which they do not know. It is their home, and they have made the , most of it. It can be a good friend, too, . when they seek its shelter as an enemy bomber drones above them.